The Garden City Telegram
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Battle of the Bands
Published 4/28/2008 in News : Area coverage
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
sfarley@gctelegram.com
Jeff "Vinnie" Mooradian says he and his band, "Ask Vinnie," have never played for fame or money.
"Just a simple rock band," as Mooradian calls it, "Ask Vinnie" plays a little bit of everything, and aims to have as much fun as they can.
"It's in our hearts," Mooradian said of the music.
But on Saturday, after giving a 20-minute crowd-pleasing performance during Mosaic's Battle of the Bands, "Ask Vinnie" won the right to open for a band that represents fame, money and what Mooradian said most musicians dream of: "to be on a huge stage."
Mooradian's band, which has been together since 2003, will open in September for STYX.
STYX has been popular since the 1970s with hits such as "Come Sail Away," "Mr. Roboto" and "Renegade" and will make a stop at the Finney County Fairgrounds on Sept. 6 as part of a world tour.
Saturday's Battle of the Bands was part of Mosaic's first-ever Run, Rock 'n' Roll, which also included a health expo and pasta bar buffet on Friday and a marathon, half marathon, 5-kilometer walk/run and 1-mile walk/run Saturday morning.
For more than three hours, nine bands, playing 20 minutes apiece, barraged the audience. At the end of the battle, each audience member was given one vote for who they thought was the best. The winner was determined by popular vote and a panel of judges.
Mosaic Executive Director Debbie Reynolds said 750 ballots were returned, adding that while the vote was extremely close, "Ask Vinnie" ultimately won out.
A child of the late 1970s and '80s, Mooradian grew up on rock and always dreamed of playing with or for the bands he would hear on the radio. Now 38 and a police officer with the Dodge City Police Department, he said it's a huge opportunity for a "small-town rock band.
"It's just a pinnacle of our musical career," Mooradian said.
"For me, it's all about having fun," he said, adding that if the band's having fun on stage, he knows the audience is having fun.
Proceeds from Run, Rock 'n' Roll go to services provided by Mosaic, a nonprofit social ministry organization affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that serves people with disabilities.
According to Lynn Ballinger, community relations manager for Mosaic, the organization has 50 agencies nationwide and three overseas that serve 250 communities in 14 states. Garden City's Mosaic serves about 140 individuals and has about 100 employees.
Ballinger and others with Mosaic were brainstorming on something that could serve as a signature event for the local agency and thought music was something that joined people of all ages, other demographics and backgrounds. And Ballinger and Reynolds said they saw that as they looked at the crowd this weekend.
"It is the common denominator," Ballinger said of music.
As the battle played out on stage, disc jockeys battled it out for best DJ. Carissa Sherman with Western Kansas Broadcast Center won that competition.
Rick Ramirez and others with Garden City's "Bad Mo-Jo" were the first to take the stage.
What runs through Ramirez's head when going on stage is his opening chord progression, lyrics and "don't trip, don't trip."
But after he gets through all of that, Ramirez said, "you just lay it all out on the stage for everybody."
The band's current crew has played together since 1999, and Ramirez said he thought Saturday's crowd came from music being "a universal language. It speaks to everybody on some level."
If people stick around long enough, they'll hear something they like, he said.
After "Blue Rose Rocket Band" of Hardesty, Okla., came off stage, members were greeted with handshakes and those in the audience telling them, "You rock."
Only one band walked away with the prize, but Charley Ski and his children, Chez, 14, and Niki, 17, of "Blue Rose" walked away with some of what's kept Charley Ski in the music scene: the freedom, adrenaline rush and love of music.
While on stage, Ski said he feels what an artist feels. As his guitar bleeds music onto the crowd, it's like an artist "throwing paint out," he said.
For more information on Mosaic, visit www.mosaic.org.
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